Flooding is becoming an increasing problem in many cities in the event of excess snow menl, hurricaines and so on. Therefore this issue has to be addressed and building and homes need to be designed accordingly.
A competition was launched (year unknown) by Norwich Union, with the support of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The competition “aimed to see how architects would tackle the problem of building on flood plains in a liveable, workable and insurable way.”
“Reducing the risk of flooding does not begin and end with concrete walls and buildings on stilts, as the results of the competition show. Good design lies at the heart of creating communities that are more resilient against flooding, of lessening the cost caused by flooding when it does occur and of minimising the impact it has on local livelihoods and safety. The variety of the approaches demonstrated by the entrants shows the enormous potential of design-led solutions.”
In conclusion. Don’t just put all of your designs on stilts. Find a way of working with the issue. Another method to consider is amphibious Architecture. See the second web site.
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=10743
http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/08/28/waterstudios-amphibious-architecture/
— Kristy
Categories: Natural and Human Systems
In November, Logitech rolled out its billionth mouse from its production line. That is a lot of mice. These days the function of the mouse is being pushed out of the way for new ways of interaction. Touch screens, facial recognition, and speech are all rage in current developments; from ipods to laptops to smart phones. Each new development changing the way we interact with technology. The movement is careening towards the scripted language of writing technology to do this and that to being able to manipulate and interact with the technology as one might a solid object or a person. The computer is only a recent technology and its influence on contemporary society is unprecedented.
Mr Prentice strongly disagreed and said that the pace of progress could not be denied.
“Just look forward five years and computer screens will be built into the walls of our homes and that would make it difficult to drive with a mouse. That’s where all the new technology like multi touch and facial recognition comes in. This is where the computer stops being a computer and becomes part of a building.
“Push things back 30 years and we would never have said we’d sit in front of a computer or that computers would hold all our music when everyone bought gramophones. Computers are not just computers anymore, they are part of our lives,” added Mr Prentice.
Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other.
What does a teenage brain on Google look like? Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people?
These sound like concerns from worried parents. But they’re coming from brain scientists.
Better hop on board for the techno-revolution.
ARTICLE – Computer Mouse
ARTICLE – Is technology rewiring our brains?
justin
Categories: Uncategorized
The significance of Algae blooms my turn from being an ecological nightmare to a energy teeming dream. Top scientists around the globe are taking a closer look at the earth’s fastest growing crop as a new source of biofuel.
Researchers at the Center for Biorefining of the University of Minnesota estimate that algae produce 5,000 gallons of oil per acre (about 56,825 litres per hectare). By comparison, corn yields 18 gallons, soybeans produce 48 gallons and palm trees yield 635 gallons per acre.
Trick says it is prudent to be cautious. “Innovative algal biofuel industries, such as Cellana, must deal with the historical views of algae — from being important to the food chain, to damaging coastal resources when in excess, to a marketable alternative to extracted fuels. Diversity is the beauty of the algae.”
The topic is still in debate over it’s feasibility. Article
justin
Categories: Uncategorized
New gallery opens up at the MuTate London Exhibition, featuring something for the technological cyborg in all of us. Watch it.
justin
Categories: Uncategorized
Article
Designers utilizing readymade objects for new purposes has emerged as an innovative solution to recycle objects already produced rather than creating new forms. Auro Foxcroft, has taken one of the potent symbols of london life, a tube train car, and reclaimed it as a living space. London’s eastside now has the surreal image of the train in the sky.
Canada, too, is in Foxcroft’s sights. Early talks are underway about the prospect of putting a subway car on a roof in Toronto.
justin
Categories: Uncategorized
Anytime Prefabricated houses get mentioned there is an awkward silence generally followed by people (marcello) freaking out and screaming inaudibly with only words like McMansions and commuter communities making out of the haze. There are however stuations where prefab works:
Why would a hermit crab need a plastic house? Like it’s distant human relative, the American hermit crab population is currently facing a massive housing shortage. There are simply not enough shells left on beaches anymore for hermit crabs to inhabit. Biologists routinely find crabs attempting to shelter themselves in glass jars, plastic containers and whatever other ill-fitting forms of refuse they can find. Scientists suspect that this sad situation might be due to pollution or over-collecting of seashells by humans. In order to try to remedy this environmental problem, (and perhaps draw social and cultural analogies?) conceptual artist come bio-engineer Elizabeth Demaray has decided to give the little guys a “hand-up” by mass-producing tiny plastic houses for them.
Read More Here
Who would have thought?
-Chris
Categories: Uncategorized
Get your glasses (Marcello) and check this stuff out:
Venice is underwater! We talk about flood resistant architecture, lets look at flood resistant people:
And my personal favorite
B-A-D-A-S-S!
View More Here
-Chris
Categories: Uncategorized
doing some updated calculations for snow paper…
figured in toonie lot and u lot….
total area of roads and parking lot x 4.6 inches of snow yearly = 1,207,489 cubic feet
= 34,192,281 million litres of water.
this is assuming 100% pickup rate, at 20% loss, litres of snow melt =
27,353,825 litres of water.
tony
Categories: Uncategorized
Elastik and MAT Studio’s design “KT: the listening room” was chosen as the winner of Dezeen x Design Association container design competition.
Taking a 20 foot shipping container, MAT Studio created an interior space, a bubble of privacy, within Tokyo Designers Week where 4000 people stopped to listen to classical music.
Fifteen speakers were oriented towards the visitor’s seat in order to create what the designers hoped would be a “spatial sensation that is in-between the notion of the concert hall and the I-pod headphone.”
Whilst maintaining the premise of the Kindertotenlieder cycle as a contemplative pivot for the installation, KT: the listening room integrates several other elements that make this piece attach itself to some key values specific to Tokyo urban culture. The sense of confinement to a small space. The idea of separateness in a multitude of others. The option of self chosen isolation. The ostensive layeredness of the urban fabric. The necessity to occasionally flee the chaos.
Read More Here
-Chris
Categories: Uncategorized
